


Battered Guitar Case

by Eruva



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Established Relationship, Guitars, M/M, Moving In Together, Written in snapshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28037994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eruva/pseuds/Eruva
Summary: When Piers moves into Raihan's townhouse in Hammerlocke, he brings a battered guitar case that Raihan’s never seen. It sits there in the corner of their bedroom, taunting him for months, while Raihan gets used to Pier living in his space.====A story of how Piers and Raihan get used to living together. Marnie visits a lot. The unknown guitar drives him only a little crazy.
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75





	Battered Guitar Case

Piers moves in on an underwhelming Tuesday. It's a cold, calculated decision they come to after Marnie casually mentioned that she and her gym mates were thinking of finding a flat together. Two days later, Piers turns the keys and opens the front door to the Hammerlocke townhouse that would now be his home. He drops his few bags onto the floor and slowly makes his way to the master bedroom. Flygon chirps lightly from her corner in the room as Piers walks in and offers a soft scratch under the chin before making his way over to fall into the bed. 

“You said 10,” Raihan complains, pulling Piers against his side and burying his face into Piers’ hair. 

“Go back to sleep, love,” Piers says with a light laugh pressing a kiss to his forehead. 

“Was planning to,” he says around a yawn before reaching out and pulling Pier close for a proper kiss. “I’m really happy you’re here,” he offers with a small but genuine smile.

Piers’ responding “me too,” is drowned by a light snore. 

Later, in the afternoon, when Piers’ additional belongings were shuffled around to appropriate places within the house, Raihan makes them lunch while they chat idly about how things were going to change. The reality was, not all that much would change. They’d been together just over two years now and Piers had so little to bring over when moving in because so many of his things were already scattered around Raihan’s place. Piers’ pokemon have their own favorite spots in the house, there’s a side in the closet that already belongs to Piers, he has a favorite mug sitting among Raihan’s collection. It’s incredibly domestic even though he’s only moving in today. 

Looking up from his rotom phone Raihan catches Piers staring longingly at the door for the fourth time, he decides to stop Piers’ obvious internal struggle. “Go,” he says with a small smile nudging Piers towards the door. “Don’t pretend you don’t want to, you know I don’t mind.”

Piers offers him a small smile, “I don’t want you to think I don’t want to be here,” he admits in a small voice while refusing to meet Raihan’s eye. 

“You know I don’t think that,” Raihan replies, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. “It’s Marnie and you’re about to be spending a lot more time apart. Go, spend as much time with her as you need. I won’t wait up, I’ve got some stuff to do around the house anyway.” 

Piers nods before getting up and grabbing his jacket. “She’s going to want to start doing dinners.” He warns while putting it on, giving Raihan a pointed look.

“Sounds nice,” Raihan offers with a genuine smile. He quite likes spending time with Marnie now that they’ve gotten over the awkwardness of Raihan dating her brother. The door closes quietly behind Piers and Raihan looks around his place, excited for the changes that were to come. 

When Raihan wakes up the next morning, he smiles down at the head pressed tightly against his chest, tucked right under his chin. Just as he's starting to drift off to sleep again, running his fingers through Piers’ hair, he notices a new addition to the bedroom. Piers must have brought it back with him late in the night from the sibling’s flat. There's a guitar case placed in the corner, it’s battered and well worn, and he’s very certain it doesn’t belong to a guitar he’s ever seen Piers play. Piers stirs slightly, and he decides that the mystery of the guitar can wait. 

* * *

It turns out Thursday nights were the nights Marnie would come over for dinner. All three of them take turns cooking and helping, and it is surprisingly easy to fold Marnie into the routine they had built while living together. Dinner at the small island in the kitchen, chatting about their days, phones placed face down on the table. Sometimes Hop or Gloria join in, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes Marnie stays the night, and sometimes she doesn’t. Living with Hop and Gloria is fun, she tells them, but sometimes she just needs quiet. 

It’s different, but Raihan finds he doesn’t mind it as much as his younger self thought he would. There’s a certain comfort in coming home after a long day at the gym to Piers humming in the living room while writing in a notebook. There's the surprise of coming home to find Piers singing while dancing around the living room with whatever baby pokemon they happen to be taking care of that month. Not sleeping alone is nice, as are the gentle “come to bed”s that Piers whispers behind his ear when it starts to get late. 

* * *

Piers’ first tour after moving in is in Alola, Raihan excitedly packs a bag to join in on one of the stops. Poni Island, so he can also give the battle tree a run, Piers isn’t surprised that it’s the chosen spot. Raihan only has so many days he can take off right before the gym challenge starts off and it’s a small tour this time. They both agree that at some point down the line there will be tours that Raihan can join in on and tours that he can’t. It doesn’t mean any less, it’s just the way that their live work. Piers offers him a small smile and laughs at Raihan’s excitement over their first "vacation" as a couple.

Their bags and Peris’ gear sit by the front door as they lock up for the trip. Raihan notices that all of the electric guitars are packed and sitting right by the door, but the battered acoustic guitar case isn’t among their things. He’s been meaning to ask about it, still sitting in the corner of their bedroom almost like it’s taunting him. Piers grabs his hand and pulls him toward the waiting taxi.

While they head towards the airport, Raihan thinks about how much more comfortable Piers has gotten living at his house and how it's reflected in Piers' music. One of his electric guitars has a stand in the living room now, his notebooks are scattered across the townhouse. Raihan knows now, to not toss any of the scraps of paper that have Piers’ handwriting scrawled across them, even if they seem unimportant. Instead, he drops them into the small box that sits on the coffee table, filled with things that Piers may or not eventually use in his songs. 

He’s gotten used to Piers singing and playing his guitars, but always one of his electrics even if unplugged. More days than not music fills their house, their pokemon like to sit at Piers’ feet while he sings them songs that he writes about them. It always fills Raihan with this sense of comfort, the way Piers' personality sharpens while he plays and sings. Head swaying slightly side to side, fingers sure on the strings, voice strong and confident. His laughter comes easy when Raihan attempts to sing along. 

On stage, Piers is a sight to behold. Loud, angry, confident, pouring all of his heart into his music in a way that captivates everyone in the audience. Raihan wonders how Piers managed to stick to being a gym leader for so long when his passion was clearly elsewhere. As he hugs Piers goodbye at the airport, he's glad that Piers seems a little more at ease with himself now that he's working at something he loves. 

When he drops his bag onto his bedroom floor, Raihan walks by the battered acoustic's case and runs a finger across the handle. Maybe one day he'll get to see what sits inside. It feels oddly heavy that Piers felt comfortable leaving something so important to him behind in their house while he traveled. 

* * *

The first time Raihan opens the door to find Marnie standing there with a look of rage just barely contained in her eyes, he shouts for Piers before stepping aside and taking her bag to drop it in the guest room. He puts the kettle on while Piers and Marnie whisper in the living room with obstagoon and morpeko curled up by their sides. Raihan feels awkward as he drops the tea off on the table and makes to walk back out. 

“How did you put up with him when you were kids?” Marnie asks him before Raihan can leave.

“Leon,” Piers supplies at his look of confusion. 

“Hop is being a git,” Marnie tells him as she picks up her tea and curls against Piers’ side. 

“Oh,” Raihan smiles letting out a small sigh. “It wasn’t always easy. I’m guessing Hop’s not the best roommate?” 

“He’s the worst,” she whines and buries her face into her hands.

“Yeah. Boundaries,” he offers her the advice with a sad smile on his face, remembering uncomfortable discussions with Leon when they were younger. “You’ve got to set them with those brothers, they mean well but they’re not always best with the social cues. They forget sometimes that not everyone’s an extravert.” 

“Ok,” she whispers, a look of determination crosses her eyes. 

“How about we forget it for a while and watch a movie?” Piers asks humming. “Stay,” he tells Raihan, holding out his hand. 

“You sure?” Raihan asks looking at the siblings.

“Yeah, stay,” Marnie replies, gesturing to the other side of the couch with her head as she picks a movie and sits up straight, pulling morpeko into her lap. 

“Ok,” he answers, curling up against Piers’ side. 

Two days later Marnie’s packing up her bag to head back to Spikemuth with a reserved smile on her face. Piers is finishing getting leftovers dished out to send home with her when Raihan stops in the guest room’s doorway. “The guest room’s yours whenever you need it for however long you need it. You never have to ask.” He tells her as he passes her a key with a plastic morpeko hanging from it. 

“Thanks,” she smiles up at him before giving him a quick hug and pulling her bag higher up on her back. “He seems happier here,” she tells him looking towards the humming that's drifting through the door. 

“I hope he is,” Raihan replies with an embarrassed smile. “I am. Happier with him here.”

“Good,” she answers before running down the stairs to say bye to Piers on her way out the door. 

Later that night Marnie starts a group chat with the three of them and simply sends:  _ thanks for letting me stay, I think things are going to be ok. _ Piers smiles at Raihan over his cup of tea.

* * *

  
  


More often than not Marnie stays after Thursday dinners, they stop referring to the room as the guest room. Once, Raihan wondered how his life had gotten to this point, but he found that he really didn’t mind so much when Piers was just there. His clothes took more than half the closest, his pokemon liked to lurk, and you could always find some of his hair somewhere around the house. It was perfect. 

They soundproof the study that Raihan never used one weekend so Piers could write and test ideas out before bringing them to his band. Piers beams at Raihan while they work at putting up the sound insolation, and it hits Raihan that the house is slowly becoming more and more theirs and not his. New instruments turn up at the house and go straight into the music room. Piers starts writing a new album. The guitar in the case in the corner of the bedroom doesn’t move. 

* * *

The anniversary of their parent’s death was always a hard few days for the siblings. Raihan stocks the fridge with both their comfort foods and makes sure to give both the siblings tight hugs when they wake up to find Marnie sitting at the kitchen table two mornings before the anniversary looking like a small child staring into the middle distance crying without making a sound. He bundles blankets around them while Piers and Marnie settle into the couch, reminds them that he loves them, and is just a call away if they need him before he steps out to go to the gym. He pauses before stepping out the front door looking back at them. Piers and him had been together for three years now, but this day would always be a day that Piers needed to be around Marnie for, not him. 

There's light music trickling down the hallway when Raihan returns from work. He takes the steps two at a time wanting to check on the siblings before getting settled into his usual routine. He paused mid-step when he realizes that he knows that voice even if it sounds nothing like the way he was used to hearing it. It's Piers, singing a light soulful ballad while he playing an acoustic guitar. This is different, Raihan isn’t sure he’s ever heard Piers sound so broken, heavy with emotion. 

Stopping in the doorway he looks in at Piers sitting on the floor while Marnie's curled up on her side on the bed. The battered case lays open on the floor by Piers' feet, a single picture of Piers' family tucked into the bottom of it. Piers looks up, eyes shining with unshed tears, and continues to sing glancing back at Marnie, fingers moving lazily over the guitar strings. 

Raihan sits against the door keeping an eye over them as they mourn, hoping they feel comfortable enough for him to be there. Piers has always been one of the strongest people Raihan had ever met, determined to not let people think less of him while trying to keep his beloved city from disappearing. Determined to give his sister a good life when their parents passed while they were both young. Here, as his voice shook and he sang every song that Marnie requested of him, he looked more his age. 

He has no idea how much time passes before Marnie runs out of requests and Piers sets the guitar back into its case. “Dinner?” Raihan asks in lew of commenting on their tear-stained faces. They nod in response and he walks back downstairs to get them squared away for the rest of the night. 

“It was my mom’s,” Piers tells him that night while they sit up in bed. “It never feels quite right to play, except when Marnie asks.” 

“I’m sorry there’s nothing I can do to make this better,” Raihan whispers, kissing his forehead. 

“It was easier this year,” Piers says while curling tighter into his side, idly playing with the hem of his shirt. “I know the last year I said no when you asked if I needed anything, but I wasn’t,” Piers pauses and sighs. Raihan waits and runs a comforting hand down Piers’ side waiting until he finds the words. “I wasn’t sure if this was going to last,” Piers finally admits in a whisper. 

“Hey,” Raihan says before lifting Piers’ chin so he can look in his eyes. “That’s a fair thing to say, it’s ok. I’m glad this year was easier.” 

“It was nice to not have to worry about taking care of us ‘cause you were here, and we could just,” Piers trails off, looking down at their entwined hands. 

“I love you,” Raihan whispers into Piers’ hair. “Get some sleep.” 

“I love you too.” 

  
  


Piers comes home from dropping Marnie back at the flat two days later to find that the picture of his parents, Marnie, and him is framed and hung up in the corner of the bedroom that the guitar case had been living in for the last few months. Everything of Raihan’s that had been close to the corner had been cleared out, and a guitar stand stood right next to the guitar case. He smiles as he pulls the guitar out of the case, placing it on the stand while the case gets tucked behind. His fingers lightly strum across the strings before he picks it up and steps out of the room to find Raihan. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a piece in a while, hope it went ok. I'm trying to get back into it, and this headcanon would not leave me alone. 
> 
> You can find me here though I'm not very active. [Tumblr](https://somethingsfandom.tumblr.com/) Twitter


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